Un-earthing the gems
Many years ago, before “The Dinner Party” was even an idea in Mary’s and my mind, we held a dinner party at our home. It was a mixed crowd of couples and individual folks there on their own. One of those attending was our sister-in-law, Paula, who is married to Mary’s brother, John, who at the time was working as a sommelier prior to starting his winery, Skylark. Most everyone contributed a bottle or two, and John, who was working at the restaurant that night and unable to attend, sent Paula with a bottle of Private Reserve from Berringer Winery.
Even at this point nearly 20 years ago, Berringer, by any standard, was a huge winery and was owned by an even bigger corporate parent, Fosters, out of Australia. More than one of us at the party was a touch skeptical over Paula’s bottle. But a valuable lesson was learned that evening, one which we have hung onto all these years later as we have run our wine shop. That lesson? There are so many wineries that started out as small operations, crafting small-batch, high-quality, Napa and Sonoma Valley wines, and buried beneath the mountains of white Zinfandel and other not-very-good wines, they still produce these gems. In nearly every one of these wineries there exists a portion of their portfolios filled with delicious wines that it is worth taking the time to find.
The higher end segment of the wines from the biggest of wineries are produced separately, many times to the point of having different wine making teams working at different facilities than where the big production bottles are made. The challenge, again, is finding them. Frequently what happens is that much of the “oxygen” of the brand is sucked up by their below average wines and the really good stuff never sees the light of day. Distributors, and even retailers to some degree, will pass on the high-quality bottles because they are such a tough sell. Let’s face it, most of us will have a hard time paying hundreds of dollars for a bottle bearing the same name as a mediocre $10 bottle we see at every grocery store. But trust me there are some worthwhile bottles out there.
Gallo is one of the largest wine companies on the planet. One of the wineries they now own is Louis Martini, a storied name that goes back to the very beginning of the modern wine industry in Northern California. Within the portfolio is a series of Cabernets they produce from both Napa and Sonoma counties that are just spectacular. The Alexander Valley Cabernet from the Sonoma side of the equation is one of our favorites and is regularly on our shelf. ($35, Wine Club Price $31.50)
Trinchero Wine Estates has been producing great Napa Valley wines, like Martini, from the very start of the modern wine industry there. Trinchero has remained independent for their entire existence, however, they have been an acquirer of other wineries amassing a huge portfolio of wineries and brands in the process. The Trinchero name may not be familiar to all of us, but their largest production, Sutter Home, almost certainly is. Diving down below the ocean of White Zinfandel you will find wines like the Trinchero BRV Vineyard Cabernet ($105, Wine Club Price $94.50) which will rival the best from any Napa Valley producer. Another of the Trinchero acquisitions over the years was Napa Wine Cellars. Both their Zinfandel and Chardonnay ($30, Wine Club Price $27, $20, Wine Club Price $18 respectively) are delicious wines that show their lineage in Napa and overdeliver for the money. The Barbed Wire Red from Tinchero remains one of our best sellers at $15, ($13.50 wine club) and is no doubt made from some of the great vineyard production the family owns around Northern California — and it shows.
From time to time we will get a few bottles of the Mondavi reserve wines. The house that Robert Mondavi built was acquired by a huge wine company some years ago. Production was ramped up and the entry level wines bearing the Mondavi label are splashed across many grocery store shelves. The reserve bottlings, though retailing over $200, are nearly impossible to find, and again, represent some of the most spectacular wines Napa has to offer.
The list of these great bottles that come from some of the most iconic names in the wine business is long. It is worth exploring, with the first step on that journey being to ignore what we think of their more pedestrian bottlings and embracing all the great work these winemakers do at the higher end.
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George Balling is co-owner with his wife, Mary Lancaster, of the dinner party, a wine and gift shop in Coeur d’Alene by Costco. The dinner party has won the award for best wine shop in North Idaho twice, including for 2018. George is also published in several other publications around the country. After working in wineries in California and judging many wine competitions, he moved to Coeur d’Alene with Mary more than 10 years ago to open the shop. You can also follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.